Surprise
by Graywhisper
Summary: What happens when young Mothpaw wanders into the woods alone at night, unwary, restless? The worst, of course. An attack. Thankfully though, young Mothpaw was saved. By who? No other than the cat that had been ruining her life. 4th ImagineClan challenge.


**4****th**** challenge! **

**Surprise**

Mothpaw blinked awake, the boisterous whispers of new apprentices loud in the silence of the apprentice den. She hissed quietly to herself before rolling around noisily, purposefully rustling the dry bracken in her nest. Quickly, the whispers faded away to silence. Sighing softly in relief, Mothpaw closed her eyes and tried to drift back off. Unfortunately, the whispers started back up again, and she snapped open one green eye, angry. She abruptly stood on her paws, exhaustion making her dizzy.

Instantly, three pairs of glowing eyes were focused on her burning gaze.

"Some of us are trying to sleep!" She hissed scathingly. Mothpaw had only been an apprentice for two moons. While she welcomed extra paws to help with chores, she resented how loud her new den mates were.

The small white she-cat with long fur and large blue eyes, named Snowpaw, stood up, nose in the air.

"You can't tell us what to do!" She protested loudly and shrilly, making Mothpaw's ears twitch with irritation.

Mothpaw hissed with annoyance. "No, but if you don't shut up and go to sleep, you'll find some nice long claw marks down your flank."

Snowpaw took a small paw step backwards, and her dark gray, amber-eyed brother stood up in her defense.

"If you so much as lay one claw on one hair of my sister's pelt, I swear I'll slit your throat." He snarled with a surprising amount of feeling.

Mothpaw didn't even blink. "Such a big threat coming from such a small apprentice." She hissed. "But I'm no fool. If you won't let me sleep here, I'll sleep in the forest."

The dark gray tom looked surprised, and froze. The young tom still sitting in his nest looked up, yellow eyes flashing with alarm. "The forest?" He echoed. "There's foxes and badgers in the forest! They'll eat you while you're sleeping!"

"At least I'll _get _some sleep!" Mothpaw spat in response. She pushed past the stunned cats and out into open camp.

She took a deep breath and looked towards camp entrance. One of the newer warriors, Brightfur, was on guard alone.

Mothpaw crept silently forward, hoping to be able to just bypass the watching she-cat, but no such luck. Brightfur held out her tail to stop the cream apprentice.

"Where are you going so late at night?" The warrior asked in a quiet, yet firm, voice.

Mothpaw rolled several responses around in her mind.

"I couldn't sleep." She mewed finally. "I want to go out for a while, maybe hunt a little."

Brightfur looked at her for a long moment.

"Fine." She murmured, lowering her tail. "Be careful, and don't hurt yourself."

Mothpaw nodded and smiled innocently, pushing past Brightfur and into the forest.

She breathed in deeply, her mind clearing as she walked on the well-trodden paths in the forest. She was a little unsure of what to do now that she was out. She hadn't expected it to be simple. She was actually pretty sure she would have been sleeping behind the warriors den- _again. _In the end, she decided to do a little night hunting. Her mentor hadn't taught her how, yet, but she was itching to try her paw at it.

She stalked along the forest floor, taking advantage of the undergrowth to hide her cream pelt. She knew the light color would stick out to the eyes of the nocturnal creatures.

After a long while of fruitless stalking, her legs trembling from keeping bent for so long, she stood up to stretch. She spotted the flash of a glowing yellow eye, and pricked her ears with surprise. Was this a bit of prey that had evaded her for so long? She snuck forward on soft pads, her weariness forgotten.

She pushed through undergrowth and found herself in a small clearing. She sniffed the air in search of prey, but instead found a strong, fresh, scent of an intruder cat on Clan territory.

Mothpaw swayed slowly on her feet, mind clouded with exhaustion. What was she supposed to do, again? Should she run away? Or maybe… chase away the rogue? She crept forward a little, still undecided. Then there was a loud screech and she felt sharp claws digging into her back.

Her mind in a muddle, she fell forwards, the weight of the cat too much for her tired limbs to bear. Then she heard an icy, sharp voice loud in her ear.

"What's a little apprentice like you doing wandering the forest alone so late?" The voice was full of false pity. "I can't have you squealing to your little friends that I'm here, now, can I?"

The sting and threat of the strange cat's words finally registered in Mothpaw, and her heart started beating faster. She began to struggle viciously, adrenaline pumping through her. The other cat hopped off briefly, catching the cream apprentice off guard and making her land on her back, exposing her soft belly.

The shadowy cat hopped back on her, strong hind claws digging into the apprentices stomach. Mothpaw looked up, breathing hard with fear, into intelligent, gleaming, yellow eyes. She trembled, gleaming silver claws resting on her throat making her fur prickle.

Intelligent yellow eyes narrowed as shining claws inched closer, sharp tips digging forward with a sting that made Mothpaw wince. A low laugh came from the dark cat as the paws put more and more pressure, claws digging farther. Mothpaw closed her eyes when suddenly- the pressure evaporated. There was a loud cackle and a hiss of fury as Mothpaw sat up, breathing hard, slow blood trickling down her chest. She forced her green eyes to focus on the rolling mass of cats locked in an intense battle. The dark pelt and a light cream pelt, similar to her own, were tussling at the base of the tree. With a loud hiss and another cackle, the cream-pelted cat chased the dark one out of the clearing. The dark cat fled with a brief cry of, "Misery will be back! Misery always comes back!"

The cream cat turned around slowly, unwillingly.

Dawnbreeze?

Mothpaw gasped in surprise. Then narrowed her eyes. She wanted nothing to do with Dawnbreeze, and she didn't care whether Dawnbreeze had had a change of heart, either. Dawnbreeze had made her life miserable for this long; there was nothing she could do to make anything better between them. She closed her eyes and briefly remembered the day her life had taken a plunge.

_Mothkit crept up behind Dawnbreeze who was talking with her friends. Mothkit's haunches waved in the air with excitement and she stifled giggles. She let out a tiny shriek as she pinned Dawnbreeze's plumy tail beneath her tiny cream paws. _

_Dawnbreeze spun around, hackles raised, her light brown eyes full of loathing. She knocked Mothkit aside with a shrewd paw-blow that sent her sprawling. _

_Mothkit squeaked in pain, fear, and surprise as her older sister rounded on her, hissing furiously_

"_I don't want you to touch me, talk to me, look at me, or act like you know me. I want nothing to do with you ever, at all- I don't even want to know you exist. I want you to know that I will be doing everything in my power to make sure your life is as miserable as possible. Now beat it, before I hurt you again." _

_Mothkit struggled to her paws and ran away with all the power she had in her. She dashed away to the nursery, where she could try and seek comfort underneath her mother's long fur._

Mothpaw looked at her sister with hard eyes. Why should she trust Dawnbreeze now? For all she knew, Dawnbreeze would turn around and chase her out of the territory! Or maybe even kill her! Maybe she would just look at her, raise her nose in the air, and leave without a word.

That's what kept her going when Dawnbreeze turned around, looking more upset than she'd ever seen before.

"Why'd you save me?" Mothpaw demanded, tail lashing.

Dawnbreeze looked at her silently, and took a deep breath. "Because I've realized how badly I've been treating you."

Mothpaw hesitated.

"Why should I believe you?" She hissed. "This is the first time you've spoken to me, looked at me, even, in moons!"

Dawnbreeze sighed. "You don't have any reason to believe me, other than the fact that _I _saved your life, I'm talking to you now, and I'm looking at you now."  
Mothpaw snorted. "Or you could be plotting to get rid of me once and for all. To make me lower my defenses by saving my life, than murdering me. It's not like any cat would miss me anyway; you've made sure of that.

Her older sister looked miserable. "I'm sorry, Mothpaw. There's really nothing I can do to prove to you otherwise. You know I won't have any friends, either, if I don't make amends with you."

"You know I shouldn't forgive you." The younger sibling spat. "You've made my life miserable for the whole time I've been alive. I have no friends, a harsh mentor, and parents that are so busy trying to please their older child that they hardly ever acknowledge the fact that I exist, all courtesy of you. Why should I forgive you? You have all the friends, parents always trying to please you, and a mate! Why should I forgive you?"

Dawnbreeze flattened her ears. "I don't…" Her voice broke. "I don't have a mate."

"No?" Mothpaw cocked her head. "If Thornpelt's not gonna ask you, every other tom in the Clan will!"

Dawnbreeze winced. "I asked him." She whispered hesitantly, "But he replied by saying he didn't want to be any more than friends with a she-cat that treated her younger sister worse than badger dung." Then she said in a smaller voice. "No matter how much he loved her."

Mothpaw froze. She herself knew more than almost Dawnbreeze herself how close Thornpelt and Dawnbreeze actually were. Mothpaw knew how much Dawnbreeze loved Thornpelt, and how much Thornpelt loved Dawnbreeze. She could only imagine how hard it was for both of them to stay apart.

But that wasn't enough to make Mothpaw forgive Dawnbreeze.

She narrowed her eyes and looked at Dawnbreeze's fragile expression. "I can't forgive you." She muttered. "You can't possibly expect one night to possibly make me your best friend."

Then the most frightening thing happened.

Dawnbreeze cracked.

The cream warrior slowly, slowly, began to unwind, trembling and shivering. She looked more upset than any cat Mothpaw had ever seen. A tiny break, a fault, rippled across Dawnbreeze's composure, and she lost it.

Mothpaw hesitated. There was no way some one like Dawnbreeze would break down like this if she was just pretending. This was real, and if Mothpaw didn't do something quick, everything in Dawnbreeze's life would go down the river.

Her resolve wobbled. "Y-you promise," Mothpaw stammered. "That you'll treat me like I'll everyone else? You promise you'll stop ruining my life?"

Dawnbreeze looked up and stared into her younger sister's eyes. The expression was all the assurance that Mothpaw needed.

Timidly, the small cream she-cat moved forward, placing her tail on Dawnbreeze's shoulder.

"Come on." She whispered. "I think we need to get back to camp."

**So? I didn't think it was half bad. Tell me what you think? **

_**-Graywhisper**_


End file.
